Drying rack and corner foot therefor



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Aug. 30, 1960 G. DEMENT DRYING RACK AND CORNER FOOT THEREFOR Filed 001;. 6, 1958 K2526 I in, I 1 5 ,I W; r I 1 E nn -1 m1 5 W Q !i E} v 26 i r 29 II i 32 INVENTQR 32 GRIDLEY DEMENT b pm il/Agz/ nines rates harem name RACK AND CORNER FOOT THEREFOR Gridley Dement, Glenview, 111., assignor to Atlas Silk Screen Supply Co., Chicago, Ill., a corporation of Illinois Filed Oct. 6, 1958, Ser. No. 765,434

4 Claims. (Cl. 34-238) The present invention relates to multiple tray drying racks, and more particularly to an improved corner foot for supporting and spacing individual trays of a multiple tray drying rack.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide new and improved support feet for use on a rack of the type having a plurality of trays positionable in a horizontal position for supporting printed sheet materials for drying, and positionable in an upwardly inclined position during loading of the trays in the rack. More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide new and improved corner feet for use on such drying rack trays to space and support them securely in a level, horizontal position as well as to space the trays apart from each other when they are raised to an upwardly inclined position.

Another object of the present invention is to provide improved corner feet of the foregoing character which prevent horizontally positioned trays from slipping sideways and dropping against the next lower tray in the rack and from locking and otherwise causing difficulties when during raising, lowering, and loading of the trays.

A further object of the present invention is to provide drying rack corner feet of the above type which enable the rack to be used for multiple stacking by supporting the racks in spaced position when they are raised to an upwardly inclined position and thereby preventing contact of the racks with each other and with material supported thereon, while allowing the trays to nest closely together.

Still another object of the present invention is to provide improved corner feet of the above character which not only positively support the racks in both their lowered, horizontal position and their raised upwardly inclined position but also will protectively enclose the corners of the rack and thereby prevent injury to personnel working in the vicinity. A further object is to provide improved corner feet which will not mar or otherwise damage printed sheet stocks in the event they come into contact with them.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent as the following description proceeds, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a multiple tray drying rack having corner feet embodying the present invention.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged fragmentary perspective view of a plurality of racks and attached corner feet with the racks in an upwardly inclined, raised position.

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a corner foot illustrative of the present invention looking downward at the rear side thereof and illustrating a slot into which the drying rack is inserted.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view similar to Fig. 3, but taken from a forward and upward angle.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially in the plane of line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

While a certain illustrative embodiment of the present invention has been illustrated in the drawings and will be described below in considerable detail, it should be Patented Aug. 30, 1960 understood that there is no intention to limit the invention to the specific form disclosed. On the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, alternative constructions, equivalents and uses falling within the spirit and scope of the invention as expressed in the appended claims.

An illustrative multiple tray drying rack on which the corner foot embodying the present invention finds particular, but not exclusive, utility is shown in Fig. 1 of the drawing and comprises a generally rectangular base frame 11 having upstanding along one edgethereof a vertical back frame 12. The latter is formed by a pair of spaced column members 14 joined to the base frame 11 at their lower ends and by a cross member 15 adjacent their upper ends. Swingingly mounted to the back frame by means of suitable pivot pins 16 or the like are a plurality of drying trays 17. The drying trays as shown, are preferably of a welded steel wire mesh construction in order to provide adequate support for paper cardboard and like sheet materials for drying and yet provide for substantial air circulation. The trays, as shown, are formed with an outer wire member 18 defining the side and front edges of the tray. The member 18 is preferably formed of a single wire bent to define rounded forward corners on each of the individual trays.

The trays 17 when mounted in the vertical back frame 12 can either be positioned in a level horizontal position, as shown in the lower portion of Fig. 1, for receiving and supporting printed sheet materials, or they can be raised to an upwardly inclined position as shown in the upper portion of Fig. 1, where .they are stored in an out of the way position while the lower horizontal trays are being loaded.

The rack is constructed so that the trays can be easily pulled down from their upwardly inclined position .to a level horizontal position for receiving printed sheet material. To this end, the trays 17 are held in the upwardly inclined position by means of over-center toggle springs 19 secured between the side members 18 of the trays and the vertical columns 14- of the back frame. In this manner, the trays can be made heavy enough to handle the work and yet be easily raised to the upwardly inclined position where they are supported against falling by the toggle springs. For ease in moving the rack, casters 20 are desirably provided at the corners of the base frame 11. i

For purposes of holding the trays 17 spaced from each other, and level when in the horizontal position as shown by the lower portion of Fig. 1 and also spaced from each other but to a lesser extent when the raised inclined position as shown in the upper portion of Fig 1, there is provided at each corner of the tray 16 a new and improved corner foot 25 embodying the present invention. This corner foot, as shown in detail in Figs. 35, comprises a body member 26 adapted to fit over an outer corner of the wire frame member 18 of each tray 17. To this end, the body member 26 is generally triangular in shape, although the apex portion indicated at 27 is preferably rounded both to provide a smooth, protective corner and reduce excess material. Referring to Figs. 3 and 4, the body member forming the corner foot has an upper surface 28 and .a lower surface 29. The body member 26 being generally triangular in shape in order to conform to the shape of the corner defined by the tray wire 18 is thus approximately in the shape of a right triangle having two perpendicular legs joined by a hypotenuse. I

In order to mount the corner foot on the tray the body member is formed with a generally triangular slot 30 extending therein from the hypotenuse side 'of the 3 body as shown in Fig. 3. This slot extends between and generally parallel to the upper and lower body surfaces 28 and 29. The slot 30 at its inner extremities is formed with an enlarged rounded portion 31 for receiving the tray framewire .18. The foot itself is, made of a stiff, but yieldable materiaLsuch as hard rubber, so that it may be readily slipped over the edge of the tray with the tray frame wire 18 being retained in the enlarged slot portion *31 so that the foot is securely retained on the tray.

Both to reduce excess material and to eliminate projecting corners which, might damage materials carried on the trays the corners of each foot are desirably trun cate'd or rounded as shown in Figs. '3 and 4,

In order to hold the trays in spaced apart relation when in the horizontal position, and yet allow them to nest more closely together when in the inclined raised position, the corner feet are provided with a depending leg 32 which projects downwardly from the lower surface 29 along one of the edges of the corner foot forming a leg of the right triangle. This depending leg 32 is provided with an undersurface 34 which is generally parallel to the upper surface 28 of the foot. To support the trays in level horizontal position the undersurface 34 of the depending leg 32 rests upon the upper surface 28 of the correspondipgfoot g thgnext lower tray and thus supports the trays 17 in a spaced apart position on the base frame 11. The lowermost feet fest directly on the frame 11. When the racks are in a horizontal posi tion, the spacing between them is equal to approximately the'thickness of the body 26'plus the length of the depending leg 32, as shown in Fig. 1.

In order to increase the angle, shown as A in Fig. 1, between the horizontal trays and the raised trays, a lesser spacing is afforded between trays when the trays are in the inclined-raised position. When the trays are in the upwardly position they are spaced at a distafice approximately equal to the thickness of the body member. To this end, the depending leg 32 is substantially narrower in width than the lower body surface so that the leg can slide ofi of the upper surface 28 when the trays are raised and hang over the edge of the next lower corner foot as shown in Fig. 2. As a result, the upper surface 28 of a lower foot rests directly against the lower surface 29 of the .next upper foot when the trays are raised.

With this construction, the trays remain spaced apart whenin the raised position so that they may continue to support materials for drying while the lower trays are being refilled. One process where this is important is the multiple stacking process wherein the entire rackis filled with papers to be dried, and then all of the trays are raised to the inclined position. By the time the uppermost tray is filled, the lowermost tray contains material which is substantially dry. This material can then be removed and freshly printed sheets inserted in its place repeating the process and thus utilizing the rack to its fullest extent.

I claim as my invention:

1. A corner foot for use on a tray of a multiple tray drying rack having a plurality of trays positionable in a horizontal position or in an upwardly inclined position, said foot comprising a generally three sided stiffly yieldable body member which is relatively thick with respect to the tray and which has parallel upper and lower surfaces and a generally triangular slot extending from one side thereinto intermediate and substantially parallel to said surfaces for receiving a tray corner, and a leg portion depending from the lower surface of said body and terminating in a bottom surface which is generally parallel to the upper body surface, said leg portion extending along one side of said body member corresponding to the front edge of said tray, the width of said leg being substantially narrower than the lower body surface so that said leg is supported on the upper surface of the next lower foot when the trays are horizontal, and the upper surface of said foot is supported against the lower surface of the next upper corner foot when the trays are inclined upwardly with the depending leg of the latter overa hanging the forward edge of the former so that the trays are spaced from each other.

2. A corner foot for use on a tray of a multiple tray drying rack, comprising a generally three sided stifily yieldable body member which is relatively thick with respect to the tra, and which has parallel upper and lower surfaces and a generally triangular slot extending from one side thereinto intermediate and substantially parallel to said surfaces, and a leg portion depending 7 from the lower surface of said body and extending along a second side thereof, said leg terminating in a narrow elongated bottom surface which is spaced from and generally parallel to the upperbody'surface, and'which is substantially narrower than the lower body surface.

3. A corner foot for use on an open mesh wire framed tray of a multiple'tray drying rack, comprising a gen erally three sided st-iflly yieldable body member relatively thick with respect to the tray and having parallel upper and lower surfaces and a generally triangular slot extending from one side thereinto intermediate and substantially parallel to said surfaces, said slot terminating in an enlarged tubular portion corresponding in shape to the tray frame corner for receiving and retaining the same, and a leg portion depending from the lower surface of said body and extending along a second side thereof,

I said leg terminating in a narrow, elongated bottom surface which is generally parallel to the upper body surface, said second side of said body member corresponding to the forward edge of the tray, and the bottom surface of said leg being substantially narrower than the lower body surface.

4. in a multiple tray drying rack comprising, a generally rectangular base frame, a vertical back frame extending upwardly from one edge of said base frame, a

I plurality of wire framed trays mounted at spaced vertical clined position, the improvement consisting of a corner foot on each outer corner of each tray for supporting said trays in spaced relation in a level horizontal position and for supporting said trays in spaced relation but at a smaller interval when the trays are raised to their inclined position, said foot comprising-a generally three sided stiflly yieldable body member which is relatively thick with respect to the tray and which has parallel upper and lower surfaces and a slot extending thereinfrom one side intermediate and substantially parallel to.

said surfaces for receiving a tray corner, anda leg portion depending from the lower surface of said body and extending along a second side thereof, said leg terminating in a narrow, elongated bottom surface which is generally parallel to the upper body surface, said leg portion extending along one side of said body member corresponding to the forward edge of the tray when the corner foot is mounted thereon, the bottom surface of said leg being substantially narrower than the lower body surface so that said leg is supported on the upper surface of the next lower foo-t'when the trays are horizontal, and

' the upper surface of said foot is supported against the References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 697,237 Collins Apr. 8,1902 1,069,193 Sco-field Aug. 5, 913 1,228,79Q fLambert June 5, 1917 

